Interlocking pile construction



March 5,1940. ,4, SIMPSON 2,192,508

INTERLOCKING PILE CONSTRUCTION Filed April 12, 1937 S Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR Herman 1V. Simpson BY 7? Mi ATTOREEYS March 1940- H. N. SIMPSON2,1 ,508.

INTERLOCKING FILE CONSTRUCTION Filed April 12, 1937 s She ets-Sheet 2 IINVENTOR Herman .N.U61'mpso12 BY M QJAJZ l I ATTO NEYS March 1940- H. N.SIMPSON INTERLOCKING FILE CONSTRUCTION s sheets-sheet s Filed April 12,1937 INVENTO'R Hszman 1):? Simpson BY Mg ATTIOR EYS Patented Mar. 5,1940 UNITED STATES 2 Claims.

My invention relates generally to piling and piling elements, andparticularly to reinforced, pre-cast or pre-molded concrete piles whichare individually or separately driven adjacent to each other so as toconstitute a continuous wall in such structures as coffer dams, bridgepiers, breakwaters, bulkheads, docks, sea. walls, river walls, retainingwalls and foundations for buildings-this type of piling being commonlyknown as sheet piling.

More specifically, my invention relates to an improved means'ofcombining the interlocking and reinforcing features essential in suchconcrete piling, and to an improved method of fabricating suchinterlockable reinforcing elements.

A: particular object of my invention is to provide a practical, simple,inexpensive but efficient interlockable reinforcement for concretepiles.

. A further object is to provide a method of fabricating interlockablereinforcements for concrete piles from ordinary railroad rails, I-beams,or other common rolled iron or steel shapes, or from existing forms ofsteel sheet piling.

The different modes in which my invention may be carried into practiceare hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which:

Fig. 1 (Sheet 1) is a side elevational view of one type of concrete pileof the shape commonly used for sheet piling, in which any of the typesof interlockable reinforcements of my invention may be incorporated;

Fig. 2 (Sheet 3) is a side elevational view of a steel shape or railfrom which one of the combined reinforcing and interlocking members ofmy invention may be made;

Fig. 3 (Sheet 4) is a side elevational view of =the portion of the samemember shown in Fig. 2, but illustrating such member stretchedlaterally; Figs. 2 and 3 thus illustrating one method of fabricating oneof the combined reinforcing and interlocking members employed in onemodification of my invention;

Fig. 4 (Sheet 3) is a side elevational view of a portion of a steelshape similar to that shown in Fig.2; but with'the central web slittedobliquely in preparation for lateral stretching of this steel shape;

Fig. 5 (Sheet 3) is a transversesectional View taken on the line 55 ofFig. 9;

Fig. 6 (Sheet 4) is a sideelevational View of the same portion of thesteel shape shown'by Fig. l, but showing such shape stretched laterallyand illustrating a preferred method of fabricating one of the combinedreinforcing and interlocking members utilized in one embodiment of mypile construction;

Fig. 7 (Sheet 3) is a transverse sectional View 5' takenon the line 'l'lof Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 (Sheet 2) is a perspective View of a por-- tion of theinte'rlockingfand reinforcing member of Fig. 6 with certain ribs cut soas to be laterally offset,

Fig. 9 (Sheet 2) is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a modifiedconstruction of my piling in' which the member illustrated in Fig. 8 isemployed, this sectional view being taken on the line l t-i l of Fig.10; g

Fig. 16 (Sheet 3) is a transverse sectional view of the same modifiedconstruction taken on the line m m of Fig. 9, which latter for the"purposes of this section, is assumed to bean elevae tionalview;. s j IFig. 11 (Sheet 1) is a perspective view of a portion of a crib-likeinterlocking and reinforcing member fabricated from the memberillustrated in Figs. 6 and 7;

Fig. '12 (Sheet 1) isa partial elevational view at illustrating aconcrete pile in which the member shown in Fig, 11 is employed; and

Fig. 13 (Sheet 3) is a transverse sectionalfview takenflbn the linel3-i3 of Fig..12. Q

In order to facilitate the reading of the draw.-

ings I will describeflrst the features common to piles of the typereferred to. The concrete pile illustrated in Fig. 1 (Sheet 1) is of thetype designed for use in continuous structures such as sea-walls, riverwalls,freta'ining walls, coffer dams, bridge piers, breakwaters and thelike, where comparatively great strength is required to resistthelateral pressure of earth, 'water, etc. With such piling. it isessential that interlocking means he provided for locking each 40" pileto the adjacent piles-as, for example, a tongue 3i! prejectingfrom oneside and a slotted channel it in the opposite side. Concrete piles ofthe I typeillustrated by Fig. 1 are customarily manufactur'ed with theircross-section approximately rectangular, but these can be made withother desirable cross sectional shapes. The base 2| of the pile ispreferably bevelled or wedge-shaped so that when the pile is driven intothe ground it will penetrate the ground more. easily and the 5 wedge endmay also be used to force the driven pileagainst adjacent piles alreadyin place. The tip of the wedge shaped base 2! is generally prctectedfrom-fracture by a metal shoe 22 which is held in place by anchorsextending into the concrete body 29 (such anchors not being shown). Theconcrete pile may be made with a pipe 23 extending downward to thebottom, as indicated in Fig. 1, such pipe being provided at its upperend with a suitable threaded fitting 24 extending at right angles to thepipe and thru the side surface of the pile. At its lower end the pipe 23is tapered to form a nozzle 25 passing thru the metal shoe 22. A hose orpipe lineis attached to the fitting 24 when the piling is being driveninto place and water at high pressure is forced thru the pipe 23 andnozzle 25 causing the jetting away of sand and soil from the tip of thepile and thus facilitating the driving of the pile into the ground. As aconvenience for handling such piles, a metal tube or pipe 26 is providedwhich passes laterally thru the concrete body of the pile near the top.This tube or pipe 26 facilitates the lifting of the pile by tongs or achain, and reinforcing stirrups or straps 21 embedded in the concreteprevent possible tearing of the pipe 26- loose from the concrete and.the fracturing of the upper portion of the pile when the entire weightof the pile is carried by the tube or pipe 26. A short metal rod 28 mayalso be set in the top surface of the pile, to form a dowel as an aid incentering the follower of the pile driver in the usualmethod of thedriving of the pile by the pile driver. Concrete piles of this type aregenerally reinforced by longitudinal rods and lateral hoops or tiestraps embedded in the concrete, such reinforcements, however, not beingshown in Fig. 1.

I shall now describe the novel features of my invention, the essentialfeature of which is the strengthening of the concrete piles byreinforcements which may be pro-made as units, thus simplifying theconstruction of the piles and dispensing with the necessity of otherwisearranging and securing in place the reinforcements at the time the pileis to be formed.

For these interlocking and reinforcing members I have found it bothpractical and economical to utilize ordinary steel rails that have beendis- .cardedas unsatisfactory for. further use as railroad-rails. Suchdiscarded rails may be secured very cheaply and, because of theirI-shape and structure, lend themselves most satisfactorily for thecarrying out of mypurposein the ways here,- inafter described.

In Fig. 2 the rail 34, has the flanges of its base formed into a slottedchannel d, and has a plurality of parallel longitudinal slits 35, 36,3'1, 38, .39, ll), l! and 42 cut into the web, the location and extentof each of these slits being as shown in Fig. 2. After these slits havebeen cut the rail is heated and stretched transversely to the desiredwidth for the pile. The expanded web is thus rendered of lattice form,as shown in Fig. 3, the numerals designating the openings in thelatticed web of Fig. 3 for convenience being the sameas thosedesignating the slits in Fig. 2 which form the openings.

The method of slitting the web and expanding rail's'and similarstructural shapes may be used to produce various patterns in theextended web.

For example, the slitsmay be made obliquely in the web, as shown in Fig.4 (Sheet 3), the rail of Fig-4 otherwise being similar to that shown inFig. 2. The oblique slits 45, 46, 41, 48, 49 and 553 shown in Fig. i areparallel, equallyspaced, and-of equal length, the length of the slitsdetermining largely the extent to which the web of the rail may bestretched. After these oblique slits have been cut the rail is heatedand, in the expanding, the rail head and base flange sections a, d aremoved in opposite directions-that is to say, referring to Fig. 4, thebase section (1 would be moved to the right while the head section awould be moved to the left, or held stationary. The result of suchoperation is to cause the heated rail of Fig. 4 to assume the shapeshown in Fig. 6, the slits i5, 46, 41, 48, 49 and 50 of Fig. 4 beingwidened into the openings designated by the same numbers in Fig. 6, thehead and base sections being connected by transverse ribs 53, 54', 55,etc.

Certain of the ribs of the lattice web of the reinforcement member shownin Fig. 6, may be out close to the head a and others close to theslotted channel base 01, and such cut ribs laterally offsct asillustrated in Fig. 8 (Sheet 2); the cut and deformed bars beingdesignated by 54, 55, 57 and 58 in Fig. 8, while the remaining ribs, forexample 53, 56 and 59 are left intact and constitute the tie between theheaded tongue a and the slotted channel (1 of the expanded rail. Themanner in which the member illustrated by 8 (Sheet 2) is used-in oneconstruction of my pile is shown clearly in Fig. 10 (Sheet 3) and Fig. 9(Sheet 2). Referring further to Figs. 8,

and 10, it will be noted that the cut and laterally offset transversebars or ribs 54, 55 51 and may be bent outwardly and oppositely to anyconvenient shape, leaving a portion of each of such bars parallel to theremaining uncut transverse bars 53, 5G, 59. The laterally offset bar isshown in Fig. 10 (Sheet 3) in section.

As will be noted, the cut and laterally offset bar 54- of myinterlockable reinforcing member of the construction shown by Fig 10 isarranged so that the longitudinal reinforcing rods 3! may be fastenedthereto.

A further method of utilizing an expanded I-beam or rail as illustratedin Fig. 6 (Sheet 3) to form interlockable reinforcing members will nowbe described with. reference to Figs. 11 and 12 (Sheet 1) and Fig. 13(Sheet 3). A length of such expanded rail is cut longitudinally thru thecenter of the head a, and of the connecting strips 53, 54, 55, etc., ofthe web, as far as the base or flange section d, the latter not beingcut. The two halves-are then bent outwardly to produce laterally offsetribs arranged in crate or crib-like form. shown by Fig. 11 (Sheet 1),connected to the slotted channel base d. Another section of the expandedrail, similar to Fig. 6 (Sheet 3) is cut longitudinally thru the centerof the base flange and the connecting strips of the web, but the tonguedhead is left uncut. The two halves of this latter section are also bentoutwardly to produce ribs arranged in crib-like form similar to Fig. 11(Sheet 1). These two out and bent sections, designated as members 62, 53in Fig. 13 (Sheet 3) have their extremities overlapped and welded ortied together so as to form the rectangular basket like structure shownin Fig. 13 and also in. Fig. 12 (Sheet 1). It will be apparent from Fig.17, that when this construction is used no further reinforcinglongitudinal rods are needed in the concrete pile. Thus in thisembodiment of my invention, the slitted stretched and. preformed railsections furnish all the reinforcement necessary in a concrete pile.

There are, of course, several variations possible in the method by whicha rail, I-beam, or a shape such as a steel sheet pile as now made, maybe utilized, but the example which I have given are sufficient forillustrating how my invention may be'carried into practice.

The extent to which the headed tongues of the interlocking membersprotrude beyond the faces of the pile and the extent to which theco-acting slotted channels of the interlocking members are embedded inthe concrete may be varied as illustrated in Figs. 10 and 13 of Sheet 3.Also, instead of making the concrete pile. exactly of rectangular crosssection this may be varied and the concrete body of the pile itselfmight be made with oppositely located bevelled projection andcorresponding recess, lessening the strain on the steel interlockingmembers and resisting lateral shearing of the steel tongue. The edges ofthe piles and the extent to which the steel tongue protrudes may bearranged to permit such piles to be set in a curved line, as well as ina straight line. The corner edges of the concrete pile may be rounded asin Fig. 13 (Sheet 3) or bevelled as in Fig. 10 (Sheet 3).

Other variations might be made in the manner in which interlockingmembers and reinforcements are provided without departing from theprinciples of my invention. While I have described the practical use ofmy invention as applied to concrete piles to be placed in juxtapositionand interlocked with each other to form.

tion units, as, for example; for constructing the walls of a bin orother inclosure.

I claim:

1. A unitary reinforcement for concrete pile comprising parallellongitudinally extending membersconnected by an intermediate integrallatticeweb having spaced ribs, one member including a coupling headconnected to the reinforcement by a neck 'of smaller cross section thanthat of the coupling head, the other member including a coupling channeladapted to receive and interlock with a complementary coupling head,certain ribs of the lattice section beingdiscontinuous and laterallyoffset.

2. In combination with a concrete pile of a unitary reinforcementcomprising parallel longitudinally extending membersconnected by anintermediate integral lattice web having spaced ribs, one memberincluding acoupling head connected to the reinforcement by a neck ofsmaller cross section than that'of the head, the neck being embedded inthe pile and the head extending beyond the surface of the pile, theother member including a coupling channel with such channel memberembedded in the material of the pileand formed to receive and interlockwith a complementary coupling head, certain ribs of the lattice sectionbeing discontinuous and laterally ofiset.

HERMAN N. SIMPSON.

